Work stop and gauge



June 1% 1958 CASE 2,837,940

WORK STOP AND GAUGE Filed NOV. 25, 1955 nil nn M iii, mm; J I ll" INVENTOR. JOHN E. (ASE United States Patent fiFice 2,837,940 Patented June 10, 1958 WORK STOP AND GAUGE John E. Case, eattle, Wash. Application November 25, 1955, Serial No. 54%,045

2 Claims. or. 77-55 This invention relates to improvements in gauges and stops designed for use on and in connection with boring machines and the like, and it has reference more particularly to the embodying of gauges and stops in a unitary structure that is adapted for application to the work table of a boring machine; it being the principal object of the invention to provide a gauging and stopping device that can be easily and readily applied to a machine that, through the proper use of a selected stop, provides for the quick and easy locating of work pieces, in succession, at the same position relative to the line of advancement of a boring bit so that each piece will be bored exactly at the same distance from a designated edge or edges.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a gauging device of the above character having a frame structure that may be bolted to the work table of a boring machine, or other machine with which it is to be used, and which frame structure includes a bar that is intended to serve as a fence against which the pieces of work may be abutted for boring; this fence being extended to opposite sides of the line of travel of the boring bit and the frame being equipped at opposite sides of the vertical plane of the bit With a succession of gauging stops extended across and forwardly of the fence, and at different but regular spacings from the line of the bit and adapted to be selectively moved into or from the position of functional use.

Still further objects of the invention reside in the details of construction and mode of use of the stop members; in their relationship to each other, to the fence, and to the location or line of travel of the boring bit.

In accomplishing the above mentioned and other objects of the invention, I have provided the improved details of construction, the preferred forms of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a work stopping and gauging means embodied by the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a top, or plan view of the device with certain parts broken away for explanatory purposes.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a part of a boring machine illustrating use of the present means for gauging the position of a work piece relative to the axial line of the boring tool.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section taken in the vertical plane of line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

' Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the stopping and gauging plates.

Referring more in detail to the drawings:

In accordance with the intended mode of use of the present device in connection with a horizontal boring machine, it is bolted or otherwise rigidly fixed to the transverse back edge of the work table of the boring machine. In Fig. 1 the present device is designated in its entirety by reference numeral 16 and it is shown to comprise a frame structure having a flat base bar 12 that is adapted to be placed flatly against the vertical back edge of the work table and to be bolted thereto. It is to be noted, particularly in Fig. 1, that the bar 12 is formed in its opposite end portions with longitudinally directed slots 13 through which attaching bolts 14 are extended for threading into holes provided therefore in the edge flange 15' of the work table top which is designated generally by numeral 15.

Fixed perpendicularly to and extended horizontally and rearwardly from opposite end portions of the bar 12 are arms or brackets 16-46 and midway between these is a similar rearwardly extending arm 16a; these three arms beingin parallel relationship and equally spaced, as shown in Fig. 2. Supported end to end between the rearward end portions of the arms 16 and 16', in axial alignment, are shafts 2t) and 20', on which the stop gauges of the present device are mounted as presently described.

The two shafts, 20 and 20' have diametrically reduced adjacent end portions, serving as mounting trunnions, that are rotatably fitted in a hole 22 bored through the arm 16a. The outer end of shaft 20 is supported for rotation by centering the conically pointed inner end portion of a setscrew 23 therein; this screw being threaded through the arm 16 and secured in adjustment by a lock nut 24 that is threaded thereon and tightened against the outside face of the arm. The outer end of shaft 16' is similarly supported for rotation by a setscrew 26 that is threaded through the arm 16' and secured by a lock nut 27.

The shafts 2t) and 20' are exteriorly threaded, and mounted on each is a succession of work gauging and stopping plates 30, each of which, as shown in Fig. 5, comprises a rigid plate of uniform thickness, formed at one end with a bored hole 31 that receives the shaft 20 or 20 therethrough, and is notched at its opposite end on its underside, as at 32, and terminates at that end in an upwardly and forwardly beveled edge surface 34, leading to a rounded point 35. All plates 30 are of exactly the same dimensions and are disposed flatly together on the mounting shafts 20 and 20 as seen in Fig. 2. Also, they are of such length that when directed forwardly, their notched under surfaces may be rested upon the flat top edge of the fence bar 12, as shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

The fence bar 12 extends slightly above the top surface of the table top .15 and when the plates 30 are rested thereon, as in Fig. 4, their beveled end portions extend somewhat forwardly of the plane of the front side or abutment surface of the fence. If the two groups of plates, or any of the plates are resting upon the fence is indicated in Fig. 4, they will be automatically lifted if the end of a work piece, such as that designated at 38 in Fig. 4 is jammed directly against them in the direction of the arrow -a. However, if the work piece is moved against the side face of the extended endportion of a plate, as in the direction of arrow --b in Fig. 3, the plate acts as a stop for the piece.

In the present showing, a plurality of plates are assembled in face-to-face relationship on each of the two shafts 20 and 2t), and they are adapted to be adjusted, each as a group, along the mounting shafts by nuts 3-39' that are threaded onto the shafts to engage opposite sides of the groups. Also, by means of these nuts the plates may be held tightly in face-to-face relationship. However,v

they are independently rotatable on their mounting shafts.

It is the intent that the two groups of fingers be equally spaced at opposite sides of the vertical plane of the boring bit at) and which, as herein shown, is located directly over the arm 16a and is adapated to be extended from a retracted position, rearwardly of the fence, to bore into a piece of work 38 that is placed against the fence as shown in Fig. 3. Also, it is anticipated that the machine shall be equipped with means for effecting relative vertical movement of bit and table so as to establish the bit at a desired elevation above the level of the table top.

In a device of this. kind now in use, I have assembled twenty plates in each group, and each plate is thick.

To use a plate as a stop, for example, to employ it as a means for locating the work piece 38 at such position that a hole can be bored at a designated distance from one edge thereof, one group of stops-can be swung to a position rearwardly of the fence, as-has been-shown in Fig. 3. Then the plates of the other group that are less than said designated distance from the axial line of the boring bit 40 are swung to a position rearwardly of the fence while the others are left extending forwardly thereof. Then, by bringing the end of the piece flatly against the fence, and its side surface flatly against the face of the extended stop plate which is nearest the bit, the work piece will be accurately positioned. Successive pieces of Work material may then'be likewise brought into position and bored, and all bores will be equally spaced from the selected faces of the pieces.

If it should be desired to bore the work pieces at certain distances from opposite edges, plates at opposite sides of the line of the bit may be employed. For

example, a group of plates such as that shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 might be swung into position forwardly of the fence. Then the piece 38, after being bored as seen in Fig. 3, could be placed in boring position against the other roup of plates. Insuch operation, the piece 38 would be first pushed endwise against the extended stop plates of one group to lift that group out of the way, and then moved laterally to stopped position against the other group ofstops.

It is to be understood that adjustment of the two groups of plates along their mounting shafts 20-20 makes possible very accurately establishing the spacing from the line of the bit, and also provides for extending the limits of each group of fingers. Accuracy of spacing may also be established to greater extent by adjustment of the shaft mounting set screws 23 and 26 to move the shafts and their groups of plates laterally in either direction as a unit.

It is to be observed, more particularly by reference to Fig. 2, that the outside plate of each group of plates 30 is made substantially thicker than the others which are all of equal thickness. This thickening of the outside plates is to give them rigidity and more extended bearing surface at their mounting ends, to prevent any lateral play or movement in the event that either should be used alone as a lateral stop.

It is not intended that the foregoing description shall in any way confine the plates to any particular thickness or other dimension, or to any particular number, nor to confine the structure to details so long as the same ganeral mode of operation and same results are to be obtained.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a work supporting table, and a boring bit operable in a working plane that is perpendicular to the table top and at a right angle to its back edge, of a stop and gauge device comprising an abutment bar fixed to said back edge and extending slightly above the top surface of the table as an abutment for work pieces positioned on the table for boring by said bit, and extended to opposite sides of the plane in which the bit operates, an arm extended rearwardly from said bar substantially in the Working plane of said bit, arms extended rearwardly from the opposite end portions of said abutment bar, shafts mounted by and extended between said arms in axial alignment, a succession of gauge plates mounted in face-to-face relaiionsltip on each of said shafts and adapted to be swung axially thereon, individually or in groups, from positions rearwardly of the abutment bar to positions extended forwardly across and rested upon the abutment bar to serve as lateral gauging stops for work pieces placed on said table and against the abutment bar for boring by said bit; said groups of plates being held between nuts threaded onto their respective mounting shafts and bodily adjustable along said shafts by said nuts to establish predetermined and exact spacing from the working plane of the bit, and all gauge plates being identical in size and shape and each formed with a downwardly and rearwardly sloping end edge serving as a carning surface against which work pieces may be engaged upon movement directly toward the abutment bar to lift the plates for the positioning of the Work piece against the abutment bar.

2. The combination with a work supporting table and a tool operable along a definite line of travel relative to the table top, a work stop and gauge device comprising an abutment'bar fixed to the table edge and extended above its top surface as an abutment for work pieces placed on the table for processing by the tool, arms extended rearwardly from said bar, a cross-shaft mounted by and extended between the rearward ends of said arms, a succession of gauge plates mounted in face-to-face relationship on said shaft and adapted to be swung axially thereon, individually or in groups, from positions rearwardly of the abutment bar to ,positions extended forwardly across and rested on said abutment bar to serve in that position as lateral positioning stops for work pieces placed on the table against-said abutment bar for processing by said tool, the forward end edges of said gauge plates being rearwardly and downwardly beveled to a degree that provides for their being automatically lifted by camming action upon direct contacting of said beveled edges by a work piece as advanced on said table top toward and to a position against the abutment bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 869,309 Kramer Oct. 29, 1907 995,461 Holth June 20, 1911 1,459,873 Blackburn June 26, 1923 

